Articles
Conserving Karachi’s Historic Architecture
Karachi was established in 1729 as a fortified port settlement. Although the city is only 250 years old, there are places of pilgrimage within it that go back to more than 2000 years. Most of...
Contribution for ACHR Newsletter – Habitat Issue
Twenty years ago the Habitat Conference accepted that the major problem in Asian cities was shelter for the poor who constitute over sixty five per cent of the population in urban Third World Asia. It...
The Future of the Award
Since its first cycle, ending with the Award ceremony in Lahore in 1980, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture has travelled a long way. The distance it has covered is best illustrated by the difference...
Losing Their Census
In the absence of a fresh census, the projection of earlier trends into the nineties points towards a major shift in urban-rural demographic ratios, leading to significant political repercussions… Articles in the national press, letters...
What is Karachi Really Fighting For?
The fundamental cause of the alienation among Karachi’s lower middle and working class population does not lie simply in the ‘deprivation’ suffered by the mohajirs and the absence of an effective local government for the...
The Architect and the Built Environment
During the last century, and especially in the last three decades, major changes have taken place in the form and function of the built environment in both the rural and urban areas of Pakistan. These...
Agreeing to Disagree
A meaningful dialogue between the people of Karachi and the ruling party is becoming increasingly difficult. Karachi’s population seems to have lost hope in the system as it stands and is now looking for alternative...
Is There a Way Out?
(Completely alienated from the country’s political process and saddled with a corrupt and ineffective administrative set-up the city of Karachi has become a hotbed of every variety of violence and crime. Is the city doomed...
The KMTP and its Impact on the Urban Landscape of Karachi
The Karachi Mass Transit Project (KMTP) has been planned by the Karachi Mass Transit Cell (KMTC) of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) and World Bank consultants. It is to be built on a Build Operate...
Link With The Past
Design, whether in art, architecture or utilitarian products, is shaped by a variety of factors. These factors are related to politics, sociology, economics, culture, influences from the past, and levels of technology. Contrary to the...
Karachi and the Global Nature of Urban Violence
In 1991, according to official figures, 466 murders were committed in Karachi; there were 802 attempted murders; 421 cases of rioting, many of them against civic agencies; 103 rapes; 140 kidnappings for ransom; 12 of...
The Changing Face of Karachi
With its chaotic traffic, haphazard planning rampant encroachments, the once elegant and sophisticated heart of Karachi has changed dramatically over the years. Where there were once magnificent sandstone structures, there are now commercial plazas, warehouses...
